


The End of the War

by elizabethemerald



Series: You left me... [1]
Category: Tales of Arcadia (Cartoons), Trollhunters - Daniel Kraus & Guillermo del Toro
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-08
Updated: 2019-07-07
Packaged: 2020-06-24 11:33:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,168
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19722853
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elizabethemerald/pseuds/elizabethemerald
Summary: Merlin and Morgana have called their armies for a battle that will end the war between them. Each has called their greatest champion to fight by their side, Jim Lake Jr, and Claire Nunez.





	The End of the War

**Author's Note:**

> This was a prompt I received on my tumblr.   
> For the ship fic request: "You left me, and then you terrified me, but I never stopped loving you," with either Jlaire, Stricklakerot, Clairy, or WarStaff; your choice.  
> I did all four ships for this prompt.

Claire walked quickly through the battle field. The constant noise of fighting seemed distant to her. This was going to be the last fight of their lives. The battle that would end it all. That's what they had been told again and again. Morgana had pulled out her entire army, every changeling, Gumm-Gumm and human in her service as well as several infernal monsters. She was not planning on there being a second battle after this. One way or the other, one side would never see the coming dawn. 

Merlin had brought his power to match Morgana’s. He had unleashed his most feared creation, the Trollhunter, Jim Lake Jr. Jim had cut a swath through the trolls. Claire couldn’t tell from the rubble whether or not the trolls were Gumm-Gumms. Privately she wondered if Jim had been able to tell before he cut them down. Toby was doing his best to keep their forces away from Jim, but she knew there wasn’t a lot they could do there. 

She drew her magic around herself like a cloak and hurried on. The combatants ignored her, unable to discern her clearly under her magic. Also many avoided the path of destruction Jim had carved. Claire almost stumbled into one of Jim’s footprints. Fueled by Merlin’s magic Jim had grown to a massive size. The footprint was as large as her leg, and another one further on was even bigger. Merlin was forcing all his magic into his champion and Jim’s troll form was drinking it up. 

As Claire ran through the battle she thought of the last time she had seen Jim. How he had terrified her. Merlin had ordered him to leave her, and when she tried to stop them from leaving, Jim convinced her to stay. By putting her in the hospital for weeks. It had taken months for her to be able to walk unaided again. 

A roar brought her mind back to the battle. She was close to Jim. She raced forward. Over a ridge she could see the bodies of several trolls tossed skyward. More followed shortly after. Claire crested the ridge and she could see him. Merlin’s magic had made a monster of Jim Lake Jr. He was so large Claire knew she would only come up to knee high on him. His tusks, horns and claws had grown long. His mane ran wild down his back. The worst was his eyes. 

His normally beautiful blue eyes were completely filled with a green light. The blood lust of Merlin’s magic. It didn’t look like he could even see, he hunted the trolls mostly using his other senses. Jim took a deep breath in through his nose and turned to look at her. He could sense her even through her magic. His growl shook her whole body. Or maybe it was her body shaking in fear, remembering the last time she had seen him. The last time he had growled at her. 

Floating in the air behind him was the wizard. Merlin! The man who took Jim’s life and free will away. The man who had dragged the two of them across the entire country on a lie. The man who had forced Jim to abandon those under his protection and Claire. The man who forced Jim to try and kill the girl he loved. 

Claire dropped her cloak of magic, glaring at the wizard. She levied all her hurt, all her rage, all her grief at what he had done to Jim, channeling her magic into a powerful beam against the wizard. The air crackled and burned with the energy of the magic. Merlin almost dismissively raised an emerald shield to block the attack, easily turning aside her magic. 

Jim roared and lunged at Claire. With his size it only took a single bound to put him within striking distance. She braced herself to fight. If Jim crippled her again, all the good trolls who fought here would perish with her. Before he could swing golden light rained down from the sky driving him backwards. Morgana had appeared on the battle field. Good troll and Gumm-Gumm alike recoiled in terror from the display of her magic.

The Trollhunter tried desperately to swat her from the sky. Her magic turned Daylight aside like it was made of tissues, though it was now almost the length of a car. He roared at her, a sound that shook the ground. Before Claire could react she felt the Eldritch Queen’s touch on her mind. She knew without seeing that her eyes glowed gold. Her hand rose of its own accord and a powerful golden spell knocked Jim stumbling backwards. 

“Morgana!” Merlin’s gravely voice called out. He gestured toward her with the Staff of Avalon. Before he could unleash a spell Morgana put up her own emerald hand. 

“Now Merlin, why waste our magic and our forces on a battle. We have two champions right here!” Morgana said gesturing to the two of them, both frozen while their master’s had their attention elsewhere. Merlin looked considering at them. 

“Very well Morgana. Let them fight!”

Claire felt Morgana’s magic flow through her, just as she could see Merlin’s flow into Jim. She cried out desperately in her mind to Toby. ‘Pull our forces back!’ She had no way of knowing if Toby had heard her. Morgana moved her to face Jim across the open space. 

The battle met with a roar and a crash. Jim wielded Daylight like he was born with it in his hand. Claire’s magic crackled and flashed through the air. To an outside watcher it was a fight between to extremely skilled combatants, each pushing their skills to their max. 

Claire knew better. The fight was a battle between two puppets. Merlin was controlling Jim’s every motion, just as Morgana was controlling Claire. The fight was evenly matched, mostly because of the two puppeteers. Neither of them knew the person they were facing as well as the puppets knew each other. Jim and Claire both knew each other’s strengths and weaknesses so well. They were only tools now. Merlin and Morgana were pouring all their magic and attention into the fight, they knew that the other would be no match for the combined strength of master and slave, should one of the champions fall. 

Claire let her mind wander. Morgana would use her body however she chose. The fight would be won or lost without her input. Claire focused just on the Jim she knew. Not the monster she faced now, but the boy she had fallen in love with. 

She thought about him first approaching her in the gym, when she asked him to audition. About his audition, how his speech and passion had moved her. Her annoyance and concern as he kept missing rehearsals and her anger after he trashed her house. The fear as he dragged her into the woods and her wonder as he defended her from the goblins. Her, Jim and Toby fighting to recover the Triumbric stones that would allow them to defeat Gunmar. Their repeated fights with Angor Rot. The night of the dance when they went to the bluff together. 

Suddenly she was there, and so was Jim. Plain human Jim. Everything was just as she remembered it. The music playing softly, the amazing view of the city. And Jim. He looked around in confusion. 

“Weren’t we just in a battle to the death?” He asked. 

“Yes. But it’s pretty clear they don’t need our attention to make us kill each other.” Claire said, her voice was more tired than she remembered it being the night of the dance. 

“The last time we were here, we got interrupted, so I’m doing this first.” He closed the gap between the two of them in an instant, held her face, and kissed her gently. Claire closed her eyes and kissed him back. Their kisses had been so different since his transformation. Jim had been increasingly distant as Merlin took more and more control. Now it was just the two of them again. 

Jim leaned back from the kiss to look in her eyes. Claire smiled as he stared at her with his blue eyes. She stood on her toes, about to give him another kiss when the earth shook underneath them. They both raced to the edge of the bluff. 

Instead of Arcadia, the home they had left so long ago, they could see the battle their bodies were engaged in. Jim hissed in pain as the Claire he watched blasted his trollform with magic. At the bluff’s edge he doubled over as burns spread across his side. Claire gasped as claw marks appeared on her face, and blood started flowing freely from slash on her leg. 

“Is there anything we can do other than watch them kill us?” Jim asked. There were the signs on his face of the physical pain his body was being put through, but also the mental devastation at what his body was doing to Claire’s. 

“There might be something.” Claire whispered. 

“How can we doing anything? I can’t hurt Her!” He said. 

“And I can’t hurt Merlin. But maybe you can.” Clare looked at Jim closely. He watched the battle continue to rage. Neither of the puppeteers cared for the damage that was being done to their champions. Or the collateral the puppets were causing to their respective armies. He turned his blue eyes to her and nodded. Purple glyphs appeared in the air around Claire. 

“I can only buy us a couple of seconds. And we won’t get a second chance to end this.” Claire said as more glyphs appeared and spun around her. Jim nodded and donned his armor. 

“I’m ready, and when we are done, let’s continue this dance” He said, a sad smile on his lips. Claire unleashed the wave of her magic, allowing it to wash over the two of them. 

The bluff was gone and the battlefield was back. Claire watched the green light fade from Jim’s eyes. For just a second a smile teased the edge of his lips as his blue eyes took her in. Then he smeared a snarl on his face and swung at her. She side stepped placing herself directly between Jim and Merlin. She could feel the barest tickle of Morgana’s presence. The Pale Lady was about to realize they were free. 

Jim pulled his arm back and threw Daylight with all his might. Claire sidestepped again allowing the blade to pass by and over her. Merlin was surprised to see the blade suddenly sprout from his chest. Jim hurdled Claire, snatching the wizard out of the air, slamming him down and pinning him to the ground with the blade. Claire wasted no time, grabbing Daylight’s handle and pouring her magic into the blade. Purple lightning and fire raced down the blade into Merlin’s body. 

Claire fell backwards releasing Daylight. Jim grabbed the handle and pulled the blade from the body. He used one hand to lop off the wizard’s head. In his other hand he held… the Staff of Avalon. He tossed it to Claire. 

She channeled all her remaining energy, and all the energy of the cosmos that the Staff contained into a single keen spell. Morgana’s shields crumpled before the power. As soon as she was exposed first Jim’s glaives, then Daylight whirled through the air into her chest. As Morgana crashed to the ground Claire ran up and jammed the emerald of the Staff into one of her wounds and released the rest of the magic. 

As Claire stumbled away, exhausted, Jim caught her. In his Troll form he was two or three times her size. He held her close to his body. She could barely see that the bodies of the two wizards were starting to crumple in on themselves, magical energy, long pent up in their bodies growing out of control. ‘Flee Toby. They are done.’ Claire thought. She could barely feel Toby acknowledge the thought. 

The magic was growing impossibly bright, the green and gold light combining to form a raw white light. Claire sighed and raised a hand weakly to Jim’s face as he held her. He glanced at her then moved to shelter her with his body. But she knew the damage was done. The wounds Jim had inflicted on her. The damage Morgana had done by forcing so much magical energy into a mortal body. The cost of channeling the magic of the cosmos. As the light grew brighter her world grew dark. 

Claire stood again at the bluff, waiting. It was only a moment later when Jim joined her. Again they were in their forms before they were touched by magic. Two teenagers. Jim put on their song. They danced. And they danced. Slowly the city below them faded to nothing and still they danced. In time the bluff disappeared until it was just the two of them. Dancing. Together. Forever. 


End file.
